Test shows weapon systems can work together to target threat

U.S. military officials are claiming success with a recent exercise involving two separate weapons systems working together to track a simulated threat over the New Mexico desert.

The Missile Defense Agency and the U.S. Army announced the results Friday.

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense weapon system and the PATRIOT system were able to track the target after it was launched from White Sands Missile Range and exchange messages through tactical data links.

The director of the Missile Defense Agency, Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, says the two systems are important components of the nation’s multilayered ballistic missile defense system and that it’s critical they can communicate with one another.

U.S. Army soldiers from the 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade from Fort Hood, Texas, participated in the exercise.